Non-Mexican migrants make up slight majority of Border Patrol apprehensions in Texas

HOUSTON — The Border Patrol says non-Mexican illegal immigrants are accounting for a slender majority of the agency’s apprehensions in South Texas.

From October 2011 to July 31, agents apprehended more than 40,000 non-Mexican migrants, compared to about 39,000 individuals from Mexico. Most of the 40,000 were from Central America.

The number of non-Mexican migrants apprehended during the same 10-month period a year earlier was about 16,000.

Rosendo Hinojosa, Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol Sector chief, said Friday the non-Mexican migrants are coming mainly from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Hinojosa says the figures are not unheard of, as his sector traditionally has been an entry point for illegal immigrants from Central America.

Experts say rising violence as well as economic conditions in various Central American countries is probably fueling the increase.

“Usually, about 35 percent of the population that this sector catches” is non-Mexican migrants, Hinojosa said. “Right now we are trending above that. We’re about 50/50 right now. There is no indication that this will be a long-term phenomenon. It’s just too early to tell.”

From October 2011 to July 31, agents apprehended more than 40,000 non-Mexican migrants, compared to about 39,000 individuals from Mexico. The number of non-Mexican migrants apprehended during the same 10-month period a year earlier was about 16,000.

Hinojosa said the figures are unusual but not unheard of, as his sector, which spans 17,000 square miles, traditionally has been an entry point for illegal immigrants from Central America.

“Central Americans have always been a staple, if you will, of our apprehensions. So, it seems that they are continuing that trend,” he said.

Experts have said rising violence fueled in part by Mexican drug cartels moving into Central America as well as poor economic conditions are probably fueling the increase in migrants from there.

The sector has seen other waves in apprehensions of non-Mexican migrants. In 2005, 35,000 Brazilians were caught trying to illegally enter the country. Between October 2009 and March 2011, agents detained at least 2,600 illegal immigrants from India, a dramatic rise over the typical 150 to 300 arrests per year. Numbers for both nationalities have since dropped.

As the number of Central American migrants has gone up, the number of illegal immigrants from Mexico, who still make up the majority of apprehensions nationwide, has been steadily declining.

A study released earlier this year by the Pew Hispanic Center, a Washington-based think tank, said the illegal migration of Mexicans to the United States is at its lowest level in decades, due in part to the sluggish American economy and fewer job opportunities, particularly in the housing and construction industries.

While apprehensions in general have been declining nationwide over the last few years, the Rio Grande Valley sector’s numbers increased. From October 2011 to July 31, the sector had 79,000 total apprehensions, up from 48,000 for the same 10-month period a year earlier.

Hinojosa attributes the overall increase in apprehensions to more agents in his sector —from 1,850 in 2007 to 2,500 agents now. Strategies to control the flow of illegal immigrants also have improved over the last two years, he said.

Border Patrol agents in South Texas have also seen an increase in the number of illegal immigrant deaths and rescues of migrants.

In 2011, the Rio Grande Valley sector had 66 deaths and 238 rescues. In 2012, there were 140 deaths and more than 300 rescues. In the first 2½ months of the current fiscal year, there have been more than 40 deaths and more than 130 rescues.

Hinojosa said the Border Patrol is working with consulates from Mexico and various Central American countries to inform people about the potential dangers illegal immigrants face when trying to enter the United States, most of which, he said, come at the hands of smugglers.

“We understand there is a desire for people that are not in this country to come to this country,” he said. “We just want to highlight the significant risk that’s associated with that type of transaction.”

Interesting that those countries are part of the program that gives loans to these governments based on the amount that their migrants send home in remittances. Lines the pockets of the politicians and exports the poverty to the US.

Yesterday’s After Hours Seminar focusing on migrant-backed loans featured two speakers from William Davidson Institute (WDI), Khalid Al-Naif and Raul Reynoso and WOCCU’s Saul Wolf.Background

In 2010 WDI initiated migrant-backed loans (MBL)1 with assistance from the Microfinance International Corporation (MFIC) in the United States and ACREDICOM in Guatemala. MFIC marketed the product to migrants in the United States while ACREDICOM helped process loans in Guatemala. According to this report, some of the benefits of MBLs are the following:

The ability to obtain a loan from a formal bank enables recipients to establish credit history.

In Guatemala recipients stated that they were more comfortable with getting a MBL than with going to the bank to get a loan; senders stated that MBL gave them more assurance that they will receive some of their money back and that their remittances would be put to good use.

Promoting Financial Inclusion

According to the report "Two Trillion and Counting" prepared by Peer Stein in 2010, the total need for credit by all formal and informal micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in emerging markets today is in the range of $2.1 trillion to $2.5 trillion. Among the estimated 365 to 445 million formal and informal MSMEs in developing countries, only 25-30 million are formal SMEs. Formal SMEs usually have 5-250 employees and some history of working with the formal banking sector.
The vast majority of MSMEs in the developing world consists of micro or informal enterprises. The credit gap for micro and informal enterprises around the world is about $1.4 to $1.7 trillion. Even though Latin America has the highest percentage of MSMEs with access to finance (about 60 percent) according to Peer's findings, the credit gap in that region is still very wide.Access to Credit

It is very challenging for MSMEs to obtain credit because of the following reasons:

MSMEs often have no collateral and no credit history, making lending risky and unattractive for banks.

The remote location of some MSMEs makes transaction costs very high.

MSMEs have lower revenue potential, making these investments less attractive for banks.

Nevertheless, providing MSMEs with access to finance (referred to as financial inclusion) is essential to fostering sustainable economic development. When meeting in Seoul in the end of 2010, the G20 established the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) in order to emphasize importance of this issue.
Experts working with GPFI identified the following steps that need to be taken to address this issue:

Engage governments in establishing enabling environments that will encourage banks to lend to MSMEs by making necessary changes in the regulatory environment or by providing credit guarantee schemes to make it less risky for banks to lend to MSMEs.

Address the problem of high transaction costs when banks deal with MSMEs located in remote areas through improved infrastructure.

Provide entrepreneurs in the developing countries with access to loans through migrant-backed loans.

Final Thoughts

Since the WDI project was recently completed, it is hard to draw conclusions. I thought that it was interesting to note that MBLs in Guatemala were offered at 19 percent interest rate while microcredit loans had rates of 22 percent. It is possible that the lower rate of MBLs reflects the fact that formal banks found MBLs to be less risky. While I think MBLs are a useful product, I think it is important to offer it not just for credit but also to promote savings. In addition, I think it would be beneficial if WDI considered offering training on financial literacy to the recipients of such loans.
-------1A migrant-backed loan (MBL) is an instrument that allows migrants to not just send their wages back home but to use remittances that they send to help their friends and family obtain a loan from a bank. MBLs require the establishment a separate account where remittances can be deposited. Migrants provide 50 percent of the loan, and the remaining half comes from the bank. If the beneficiaries do not pay back their loan, the bank takes the funds provided from the migrant out of the separate account and the migrants do not get anything back. Once the recipient pays their loan in full, the account is unfrozen and the migrant gets their money back.Migrant-Backed Loans: Remittances in Guatemala | USAID Microlinks

Disclaimer: The information provided on this website is not official U.S. government information and does not represent the views or positions of the U.S. Agency for International Development or the U.S. Government